November 10
David, a 35-year-old man, married a beautiful 33-year-old woman named Stephanie. His wife has been trying to conceive since the community was locked down in April of this year. Her medical report was good except that the right fallopian tube was sluggish, and some ovulation issue. She has been treated in our clinic since July and has shown great improvement. But she still did not conceive. On the 5th of August, his semen analysis showed his sperm morphology was only 1%. He felt very stressed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He was afraid he would lose his job. As her acupuncturist recommended, he came for acupuncture and herbal treatment. After one month of stress treatment, he felt much better, and his wife had a positive pregnancy test on 09/25/2020. She is continuing the acupuncture treatment for miscarriage prevention, and the baby is growing normally so far.
This couple is not alone. We have seen more infertility cases in the past six months. The COVID-19 pandemic has been causing an increase in infertility this year.
Despite the progress of modern medicine, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 1 million deaths worldwide in less than a year to date. In addition to the death toll, the pandemic has also caused widespread and serious emotional and health problems. The effects of traumatic stress associated with COVID-19 are reported in recent literature, as well as the effects of less severe stress exposure types. Coronavirus has led to various mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other traumatic and stress-related diseases, such as coronary heart disease, infertility, etc.
During the pandemic, different groups of people meet the trauma exposure standards of DSM-5 post-traumatic stress disorder: individuals who have witnessed the suffering and death of others, such as family members and medical staff; understand that the virus has caused the death or potential of family members or friends individuals who died; and practitioners who were extremely exposed to details alike, such as journalists, emergency personnel, hospital staff, etc. In addition, social isolation, presidential elections, unemployment and economic losses, working at home and caring for children and other family members, and exposure to non-traumatic stress greatly increase personal emotional burden.
In August, the CDC published a large-scale online survey of over 5,000 adults in the United States: 40.9% of them indicated at least one mental or behavioral health disadvantage associated with the pandemic. Traumatic and stress-related diseases were reported to be 26.3%, anxiety or depression symptoms were 30.9%, and 13.3% of drug abuse to respond to 13.3%, and 10.7% of cases of suicide were seriously considered.
The online survey from nearly 3,500 people in Spain showed PTSD (15.8%), depression (18.7%), and anxiety symptoms (21.6%). Loneliness is the most symptomatic forecast, and other factors related to these problems are being female, previous mental health problems, having physical symptoms similar to the virus, or having a close relative infected.
For fertility issues caused by mental stress, I recommend a gentle approach for stress to effective treatment, which is one of the more effective forms of acupuncture therapy, as we have amply demonstrated in the clinical practice of nearly six months.
The current pandemic will challenge us and will also give us the opportunity to continue learning and share it with other reproductive medicine peers, hopefully linking us cooperatively.
Reference:
Forte G, Favieri F, Tambelli R, Casagrande M. COVID-19 Pandemic in the Italian Population: Validation of a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire and Prevalence of PTSD Symptomatology. Int J Environ Res Public Health.2020;17(11):4151.
González-Sanguino C, Ausín B, Castellanos MÁ, et al. Mental health consequences during the initial stage of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Spain. Brain Behav Immun. 2020;87:172-176.
Restauri N, Sheridan AD. Burnout and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: Intersection, Impact, and Interventions. J Am Coll Radiol.2020;17(7):921-926.
